It has been known that a medical diagnosis apparatus provides reconstructed images which have high resolutions and objectivity for a use of medical diagnosis. The apparatus obtains the reconstructed images by receiving signals generated/reflected in a patient or signals transmitted through inside the patient and reconstructing the received signals. Concretely, such an apparatus is known as a CT apparatus, an MRI apparatus, an X-ray diagnosis apparatus, and an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus. These apparatuses make it possible to obtain image information with morphology, dynamic state, functionality, and the like of inside the patient.
A patient is usually placed under constraint for a certain time due to acquiring necessary diagnostic information in diagnosis by an apparatus. This patient-binding time may be dozens of minutes or sometimes over one hour, which depends on a kind of diagnosis examination by the apparatus. When a patient is examined by the apparatus, the patient is likely to be suffered from anxiety and boredom such as follows: “when the examination will be completed”; “what the purpose of rubbing sonic gel is in ultrasound diagnosis”; “what the purpose of attaching electrocardiographic equipment is”; “noise caused during the examination”; “placement into a narrow space of a CT apparatus or an MRI apparatus.”
One of solutions to reduce the patient's suffering resulted from the examination, particularly run for a long time, is described in the Japanese Patent Application Disclosure No. 1-249044. This document discloses an MRI apparatus which enables a patient to watch TV or to see an MRI operator through a monitor during an examination.
Further, an operator of a medical diagnosis apparatus has been recently required more advanced skills and experiences of operations since such an apparatus has been recently highly sophisticated and medical diagnostic techniques have been more complicated. Accordingly, the examination performance depends on operators' skills and experiences. This could make examination results less reliable. One solution may be an introduction of a use of a workflow of examination procedures. Japanese Patent Application Disclosure No. 2001-137237 discloses an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus which switches its operation in accordance with a predetermined workflow examination procedures.
The above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Disclosure No. 1-249044 is an example of reducing patient's suffering and boredom by supplying the patient with TV or video watching. Since, however, this entertainment is provided independently of the examination's progress, the patient can neither be explained nor directed of the examination at the appropriate timing.
An examination with an MRI apparatus usually is dependent on the apparatus itself and is completed according to a rule usually without any exception. Therefore, the examination time tends to be within a time frame expected before the examination. For example, once an operator tells a patient about an approximate time required for an MRI examination in advance, providing video watching is enough to reduce the patient's anxiety and fear of a confined space/a dark place, as described in the Disclosure. This is because there is not in particular much necessity of various directions and flexible responses according to the examination progress.
When it comes to an examination with, for example, an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus, the examination is highly dependent on skills and experiences of an operator. In the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus, the examination must be progressed flexibly according to necessity under the circumstance at a certain stage of the examination. This means that the followings may be required: the original examination may be interrupted and a new examination may be cut into the original examination; and unscheduled sub-examinations related to the original examination may be decided to be performed during the original examination, and after the unscheduled sub-examinations, the scheduled examination is resumed. Consequently, the examination's time and contents become different from the original ones.
Therefore, the patient has anxiety of when the examination will be finished, what will be done next, and so on. This is different from the MRI case in which the patient feels anxiety and fear from a confined space and noise due to a figure feature of an MRI apparatus.
On the other hand, from an operator's point of view, when the operator operates an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus, as mentioned before, the operator is required highly-trained skills and experiences so as to correctly follow complicated examination procedures and perform the examination.
As to this subject, the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Disclosure 2001-137237 introduces the operation changes in accordance with a workflow. However, although such a workflow is useful for the operator, this Disclosure still does not disclose any information supply to a patient.
Turning to various medical diagnosis apparatuses, a patient is usually required to change his or her body position and stop his or her breathing, following operator's directions during an examination. These directions are made in the operator's speech. Such directions in speech are not always sufficient to make the operator understood. Further, there is another problem of increase of operator's work by which the operator cannot concentrate on the examination itself. In an examination with a CT apparatus or an MRI apparatus, an operator operates the apparatus in other room from a patient and so it is quite difficult for the operator to direct or explain to the patient well.